For those who want to find asterisks amid the terrifying exclamation points, the Eagles were out there with a rookie quarterback making his first start, and an offensive line so tattered that one of Sunday's starters would have been hard-pressed to name more than a dozen of his teammates.
That's fine to consider, although quarterback Nick Foles was not good even if graded on the curve. And it certainly doesn't explain what happened on the other side of the ball, where the defense looked as if it quit. That's a harsh word and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between quitting and simply not wanting to pay attention to what's actually taking place.
"I wouldn't say we're getting worse, but our performances are getting worse," defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "You can't hide that. Everybody sees what we're putting out there and it's not good."
The Eagles have lost six straight since appearing to right the start of the season with a win over the Giants to go 3-1. In the last four of those losses, opposing quarterbacks have each had a rating over 120. (Robert Griffin III rolled a perfect score of 158.3 on Sunday.) The Eagles have been demolished in those games, 127-59.
While Andy Reid talks about fixing the problems and going forward, the team is going backward with a foot on the gas. The Eagles would have to run the table, winning their final six games of the season, to surpass owner Jeff Lurie's mandate to improve last season's 8-8 record. After Sunday, however, all that splitting of hairs seems pointless. Reid appears to have lost the team and there is never any turning back from that.
The Eagles did what they could to cushion the edges of the coffee table for Foles in his first start. He was given quick reads, three-step drops, screens, dump-off plays, a semi-dedication to running the ball and as much help with protection as the team could muster.
It is worth remembering that Foles was operating against a defense that was 28th in the league in yards allowed, 31st in yards per play, 30th in net passing yards allowed, 30th in sacks and 29th in third-down efficiency. The Redskins defense is not good at all, and should have presented a reasonable chance for Foles to succeed. He didn't.
"I've played bad games before and this is one of them. The thing is I've always learned from them," Foles said. "I didn't play well at all. I know that. But I know who I am, and I'm going to keep pushing."
The contrast between Foles - a third-round pick shoved into action because of Michael Vick's concussion - and Griffin, a top-rated rookie so exciting the future of his franchise looks promising just because of him, was obvious. The Eagles are a team looking for a quarterback. Griffin is a quarterback looking for a team.
Griffin made the Eagles look silly. Even when he just chucked up the ball and shouldn't have been rewarded, the Eagles couldn't knock down a pass when outnumbering the receiver two to one. Griffin threw four touchdowns: that prayer to Santana Moss, a 49-yard pass to an uncovered Aldrick Robinson, one to a back being covered (poorly) by a safety and another to a tight end being covered (also poorly) by another safety. It wasn't as if Griffin reinvented the position, although his ball fakes are great. He merely shot the fish that swam in the barrel and rang up 31 points. The Eagles didn't seem to mind at all.
Where from here? Well, let's see. LeSean McCoy has a concussion, bonked in the final two minutes of a game that was already over. The huzzah over the rookie quarterback has subsided. The Eagles are playing out the string, whether they admit it or not.
And the coach, more alone on the bridge of the ship than ever before, is preparing for the next game.
"We're going to get ready for Monday night," Reid said. "That's what we're going to do."
Here's the bad news: Carolina is pretty awful, too.
Contact columnist Bob Ford at bford@phillynews.com, read his blog at www.philly.com/postpatterns, and follow @bobfordsports on Twitter.
